World of If

Lonely

Danny had been in Canada for almost a month though it felt like longer. Slowly he was putting the pieces together he had gotten a retail job that was hiring until after the holidays, it was temporary but it would have to do for now and at least the overtime would get him some extra money. After that he hoped to be able to rent an apartment and maybe eventually a house.

He had almost forgotten Thanksgiving wasn't a national holiday in Canada though Dahlia was from the States. When he asked her about it she only shrugged.

"Most of the family's from Canada and I only started celebrating when I went to college, but I could be persuaded." She grinned then winked.

"You never finished college." Danny pointed out.

"True. I'm working on it." She smiled again.

After some discussion they decided on a small meal, casual and not over-the-top with a few sides and smoked turkey legs from a local butcher.

"A few customs from our transplant American." Elsie teased. "You said you want to leave to go to college yet you never finished."

"Stuff got boring." Dahlia replied airily.

"Law school's going to be worse." Elsie counted.

Dahlia sighed.

"I know, but I've grown up a lot since then."

Elsie walked away from where the three of them had been talking in the kitchen.

"Sure, that's what you want me to think."

Meanwhile Danny glanced at his phone he had to leave for work and a little bit, Thanksgiving may not be a thing in Canada, but Black Friday definitely was.

"If you'll excuse me I have to go prepare for the pre-Christmas hoards."

He could still hear Dahlia's laughter as he headed towards the back of the house.

Later, as Danny stocked the shelves and directed incoming customers something occurred to him. He was lonely, and he wasn't the introspective type. If you thought about it he had been lonely since he had left Indiana and for all intents and purposes he had left his old life behind without much thought to what his future would look like.

That was scary.

While he appreciated Dahlia's company, he still felt like he was at loose ends and he didn't really belong anywhere. He had never intended to move to Canada he just needed to get out of the United States.

He sighed as he shoved another pair of size 10 running shoes up on a shelf. He was going to need to be down on the floor again, probably in electronics for customer assistance, or to get the seventy dollar video games out of their security cases. At least he knew what his life was going to look like through Christmas. If he was lucky he would get home with enough time to relax.

At least there was the Thanksgiving dinner he and Dahlia were putting together to look forward to, but even that wouldn't be the same. However, for now, it was the best he had.